As manufacturing environments become more automated and complex, robotics and other automated machinery is becoming more and more prevalent in all phases of manufacturing. Very specific tasks that are conventionally performed by a skilled artisan may be performed using highly specialized robotics having highly specialized tools and/or end effectors. For example, drilling holes in composite sections of a contoured section of an airplane wing may require a high level of precision with respect to applying torque to a motor for moving the end effector around a contoured wing surface. A further example is the need to tightly control the actuation force applied to the wing section by the drill bit in order to avoid compromising the wing itself.
In conventional manufacturing environments, various end-effectors and other tools that are used to accomplish various functions are simply controllable tools that are mounted to the end of a robotic arm or other form of actuator such that a central control system controls end-effectors according to a master logic program or state machine. That is, the tool itself does not contain any manner of processing ability such that the tool may be deemed to be a “smart tool” capable of directing its own functions in a self-contained manner. Rather, conventional systems include master programs that exhibit control functionality to tools through control signal communications propagating through robotic arms and actuators. In such a conventional environment, lack of localized processing and control imposes large processing speed and power requirements on the master control system.